


Clean Slate

by SingingInTheRaiin



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Found Family, Gen, Helen & Georgie & Melanie are the really terrifying aunts, Jon and Martin are good parents, M/M, Slow Burn, Tim is like the vodka aunt, and decided to keep it, because he's an adorable baby and they all love him, but it takes them a while to actually get together, everyone including other avatars act like idiots around Michael, in that Martin found a family in Jon's office, starts post episode 101, the presence of a baby negates serious canon stuff, they live together and parent together
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-18
Updated: 2020-03-18
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:21:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23202388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SingingInTheRaiin/pseuds/SingingInTheRaiin
Summary: When Helen took over and merged with the distortion, Michael wasn't killed. Instead, he was given the chance for a new lease on life, in the form of being a defenseless baby dropped onto Jon and Martin's laps. Co-parenting a potentially dangerous eldritch monster can't be that difficult, right?
Relationships: Basira Hussain/Alice "Daisy" Tonner, Georgie Barker/Melanie King, Martin Blackwood/Jonathan Sims
Comments: 13
Kudos: 76





	Clean Slate

Martin did his best to ignore what he’d overheard Melanie and Basira talking about last night. He was certainly not ‘moping about’ because he was ‘pining’ after their missing Archivist. The women were just being ridiculous, and probably trying to figure out how to entertain themselves in between doing their jobs. 

He sighed as he trudged into the bullpen, ready to start another day. Out of habit, he glanced towards Jon’s office, and then did a double take when he realized that the light inside was on. All annoyance immediately forgotten, Martin rushed to the office and shoved the door open without bothering to knock. It had been ages since he’d seen, or even heard from, Jon, and he’d been getting quite worried. 

But Martin came to an abrupt halt as he saw that Jon was definitely not in his office. Maybe someone else had left the light on last night and Martin just hadn’t noticed. Maybe it was the night janitor. Did the archives even have a janitor?

Before Martin could follow that train of thought, he heard a soft noise from somewhere behind the desk. He started to make his way around as he wondered if some stray animal had found its way inside. It wasn’t a stray animal, though. Martin stared in shock and disbelief at the little bundle on the floor. He knelt down to get a better look, and confirmed what he’d already seen. There was a baby on the floor of Jon’s office. A tiny human baby. A baby whose face scrunched up as soon as they spotted Martin, and then they let out a wail that was quite impressive considering how small their lungs must be.

Martin reached out to pick up the baby, instinctively wanting to comfort the miniature person despite having absolutely no experience with babies. As soon as he started rocking the baby in his arms, the loud screams tapered off into softer noises of contentment.

Martin sat back on his heels, and stared down at the baby. What the hell was he supposed to do with a baby?

,,,

Jon dragged his feet as he made his way to his office. He’d hoped that getting out his frustration on Elias would make him feel better, but instead he’d walked away from that conversation feeling even more exhausted than before. He could hardly believe that he’d actually gone out of his way to stop Melanie from killing the bastard.

So now Jon planned on grabbing a few statements from his office (he refused to use the word ‘hungry’, but…) and then get the hell out before anyone else saw him. The last thing he needed was to get stuck in some awkward conversation about how he’d been kidnapped by a plastic maniac, or about any of the other things that had happened in the very long months since he’d run from the archives. 

He paused near the bullpen when he heard the strangest little noises. Like from a kitten or something. A brief glance showed him that Martin was the only one at his desk, and even though Jon didn’t want to see him at all (because that would only make it so tempting to just stay here), he found himself opening his mouth before he could even think about it. “The dog wasn’t enough, so you decided to bring a cat down here too? Are you planning on starting your own menagerie?”

Martin’s head jerked up in surprise, and Jon walked around the barrier between them. He waited patiently as Martin’s eyes scanned over Jon’s entire body, clearly taking in each new scar and mark that hadn’t been there before. Jon tried not to make it obvious how uncomfortable he was to be looked over like that. Like Martin actually cared about Jon’s well being.

Once Martin finally seemed satisfied that he’d seen it all, he offered up a small, but genuine, smile. “Not a cat, no. He’s a baby.” Then he held up the bundle that had been resting in the crook of his elbow, revealing a bright pink face with little tufts of curly blonde hair sticking out in every direction. 

Jon blinked once. “You… have a baby.” He wasn’t sure why the thought made his stomach twist up in knots. He hadn’t even known that Martin was seeing anyone, let alone in a serious enough relationship to have kids together. 

Martin looked confused for a moment, and then he shook his head. “Oh- oh, no, he’s not mine.”

Jon’s eyes widened in alarm. “You kidnapped a baby?”

Martin was quicker to shake his head that time. “What- no! No, I found him. In your office, like two days ago. I don’t know how he got there, and at first I thought I should call social services or something, but then Basira said that they wouldn’t want to take a baby that mysteriously showed up here of all places, and-”

Martin kept going, but Jon started to tune the rambling. Two days ago. Two days ago was when Michael had showed up to kill him, and instead he’d been rescued by Helen. Of course it wasn’t like the world revolved around Jon, but even so, it was hard to believe that the timing was all just coincidental.

Jon leaned forward to get a better look at the baby, and he was only vaguely aware of the fact that Martin had stopped talking. The baby had a surprisingly full head of hair for one so young, and the curls were the wild kind that couldn’t be tamed by a brush alone. Of course just the hair by itself wouldn’t be enough to mean anything definitive, but as Jon looked at the baby, he suddenly Knew. “Martin, do you happen to know if there’s any photographs around here of Gertrude’s archive assistants?”

Martin frowned. “I’m not sure. Why?”

Jon thought of the latest statement he’d heard, right from Michael’s mouth as he explained why he felt justified in killing Jon for revenge. But Helen had fought to become one with the distortion instead, and Michael had seemingly disappeared. “What did you name him?” He asked instead of answering Martin’s reasonable question.

He could feel the way that Martin was just staring at him in confusion, but he did answer Jon. “Michael.”

Jon nodded as his suspicions were confirmed, but he still wanted to know more. “Why?”

“What do you mean, ‘why’?” Martin was starting to sound annoyed by all of the questions.

Jon finally tore his gaze off of the baby, and looked up at Martin instead. He hadn’t realized how close he’d gotten, and found himself just inches away from Martin. He had to refrain from jumping back and offending Martin in the process. “I’ll explain everything to you, but please, just…”

Martin kept giving Jon a weird look, but then he finally sighed and slumped back in his seat. “I don’t know why. It just felt like the right name for him, that’s all. Now what’s going on, Jon? And where have you been?”

Maybe Jon shouldn’t have said that he’d explain everything, because if he did, it meant having to wait a lot longer before he could just drop down into a bed and sleep for the next century or so. But part of him was eager to share his story, to just have someone listen to him and not judge him. And Martin fit the bill for that. 

So Jon straightened up, then nodded towards his office. “In there. Less ears.”

“Same amount of eyes, though,” Martin muttered as he stood up and followed Jon. Jon tried his best not to snort out loud, but it was a bit of a failed endeavor. It felt surprisingly good to laugh, though, and Jon realized that it had been far too long since the last time he’d done that. Maybe there were even more benefits to talking with Martin than he’d realized.

,,,

Once Jon had finally finished telling Martin about everything that had happened since Leitner’s death, they both just sat there in silence for several very long seconds. Martin just needed a moment to actually absorb all of the information he’d just been given. Not only had Jon been hurt and beaten down and framed for murder and kidnapped, but also apparently the bizarre monster that had helped them out a few times before, and had also set them back a few times before, was lying cradled in Jon’s arms. Oh, and said monster used to be Gertrude’s assistant until she led him to his death. It was just a lot to take in. 

Jon waited patiently until Martin was ready to talk, and then Martin cleared his throat a couple of times before he could actually get any words out. “Do you think he’s dangerous?” As if Jon wouldn’t know who Martin was talking about, Martin nodded towards Michael, who was currently napping. 

Jon gave the baby a long look, and then shook his head as he leaned back in his seat. “I don’t know. I mean, I don’t think that any babies are inherently dangerous, but if he grows up with connections to the Spiral again…” He shrugged, but was careful not to jostle the baby. “I think… I think that he must have been left in my office for a reason. I suppose that I have an obligation to make sure that he doesn’t become evil.”

Martin gave Jon an unimpressed look. Not because he thought that Jon was a bad role model in terms of not being evil, but because Jon barely seemed to take care of himself, so how the hell was he going to take care of another person that would be entirely dependent on him? “What do you know about raising babies?”

Jon laughed. “Based on the way you were holding him earlier, I can safely say that I know more about them than you do. I actually, uh,” he paused and shifted his eyes away from Martin’s, and his cheeks grew darker. “I had a bit of a side gig as a nanny while I was in university. I’ve no idea why, but kids just seem to like me. And I suppose one of the few benefits of being chained to a horrific monster is that I can easily Know anything I need to about raising a kid. It’s just…” he trailed off, and then took a deep breath before speaking so quickly that Martin almost didn’t understand. “I know that whatever I’m becoming isn’t a good thing, and I’m not sure if I’m the best choice to raise someone to have proper morals, but you are good, and you were willing to watch over him the past couple of days and you seem fond of him already so maybe we could try and do this together?” When he stopped, he had to take a few long breaths as he stared at Martin with wide, pleading eyes.

Martin just blinked as he thought about it, and then he nodded. “You’re right, I have already grown fond of him. It’s just- I’m not sure- I mean, I didn’t exactly have the best childhood, and I’m not sure that I would be a good dad.”

The smile Jon gave him made it feel like there were butterflies swooping through Martin’s stomach. “Well, we can figure it out together, right? If we work as a team?”  
Perhaps it was a bit strange to talk like this about something as serious as agreeing to co-parent an actual human child, but Martin understood that it was just how Jon talked. And he also couldn’t help thinking that along with the benefit of getting to stay in Michael’s life, he’d also get to stay in more of Jon’s life as well. Maybe he’d even be able to convince Jon to take less dangerous risks for Michael’s sake (though that seemed like an argument that wouldn’t be worth tackling for quite a while). “Alright, let’s do this,” Martin agreed before he could change his mind. 

“Great! I’ve already gotten mostly settled in my new flat, so I’ll just text you the address and you can start bringing your stuff over later-”

Martin frowned. “Hang on, my stuff?”

Jon nodded, and gave Martin one of those ‘why are you such an idiot?’ looks (though there was an undercurrent of fondness that had never used to be there in the beginning). “Of course. No offense, but your flat is pretty shit, and it’s a bit too small for three people.”

Martin’s frown deepened. He felt like Jon was talking in some kind of secret code that Martin didn’t have a cipher to. “Wait- we’re going to live together? The- the three of us?”

“Of course we are. A child being raised by more than one parent will have better mental health if they all live in the same household. It’ll be a lot harder to keep Michael away from the fears if he grows up being constantly depressed or anxious or anything like that.” He stood up, automatically shifting the way he was holding Michael like it was the most natural thing in the world to him. “Of course, if the spare room is turned into Michael’s room, that means you and I will have to share.” Martin started to choke over the implications of that, and almost didn’t hear the rest of what Jon had to say. “It’s a decently large room, so we should be able to fit two separate beds in there, though I can sleep on the sofa until we get around to actually buying a second bed, since you’re too tall to lie down on it comfortably.”

Jon kept going on about their new living arrangements, apparently having already decided that Martin would agree to move in with him. Martin felt at a loss for words, but as Michael woke up fussing and Jon gently soothed him back to sleep, Martin couldn’t help thinking that maybe this was going to turn out to be good for all of them. 


End file.
